Adding yeast at bottling

[xben]

Hi!

I brewed my holiday/winter ale few weeks ago. I'm now close to bottling and I would like to add re-hydrated dry yeast to my bottling bucket to be 100% sure it will carbonate by Christmas. This beer is close to 10% abv and I'm scared about remaining viable yeast in the secondary right now. I used a mix of Fermentis S-33 & T-58 dry yeast in my recipe and would re-use the T-58 for bottling.

Because I plan to use the same strain I used to brew the beer, I am confident I will not have any issue regarding the attenuation.

BUT, if I would use a more attenuative yeast strain for bottling (S-04 for example), would I get bottle bombs because of maltotriose conversion to alcohol+CO2 from the new yeast?

 

[GrogNerd]

Amount of yeast you add is irrelevant, it's the amount of sugar you add that would cause bottle bombs

A few weeks fermenting, you should have plenty of viable yeast left to carb. A few months would be a different story

 

[j1n]

Unless you filtered the yeast out or killed them all somehow, i don't see any reason to add more. Only time i've heard of adding more yeast at bottling is when a brewery doesn't want their proprietary yeast to be out there so they filter it and use another yeast to bottle condition.

 

[Kee]

Adding more yeast is optional but is not a bad idea if you want a little insurance. The Ommegang brewer talks about it here:

https://byo.com/stories/item/1207-on-the-yeast-guide-to-bottle-conditioning

Yes, you have to wade through a bunch of very basic information in the article to get to anything interesting, but he does make a couple of good points.

 

[xben]

My point is that if I use a different strain when bottling and that strain has a better attenuation (i.e. is able to "eat" more maltotriose) than the strain used to ferment the wort, I think this extra maltotriose conversion, on top of the priming sugar conversion, will result of an over-carbonated beer.

 

[Kee]

My point is that if I use a different strain when bottling and that strain has a better attenuation (i.e. is able to "eat" more maltotriose) than the strain used to ferment the wort, I think this extra maltotriose conversion, on top of the priming sugar conversion, will result of an over-carbonated beer.

That's true. To me it would be a crap shoot if you didn't use the same yeast.

 

[BeatnikTom]

Yes, your hunch is correct. Adding a new strain with a higher attenuation could over-carbonate your beer.

 

[trentm]

My point is that if I use a different strain when bottling and that strain has a better attenuation (i.e. is able to "eat" more maltotriose) than the strain used to ferment the wort, I think this extra maltotriose conversion, on top of the priming sugar conversion, will result of an over-carbonated beer.

That is certainly a good point. I know for sure it's true if using Brettanomyces. I brew Belgians exclusively (usually strong Pales) and alway re-yeast with lots of yeast (~1 million cells per ml) as per the style. The carbonation is always great with excellent consistency (bottle to bottle), lots of lace, tiny bubbles and a looooong lasting head.

 

[xben]

I added a pack of fresh yeast along with the priming sugar at bottling. 1 month later, the beer is too much carbonated, resulting into gushing. I don't see any sign of infection, off flavors or lack of body. The head is huge and very long lasting because of this. I lose approx. 1/4 of the bottle in foam, but at this ABV (10%), the most of my friends and family is not able to drink a full bottle anyway!

I just hope I won't get bottle bombs in the next weeks or month!
To be continued...

 

[BeatnikTom]

This could also be the result of poor attenuation by the original yeast population. The reinforcements are fresh, ready to go, and may be eating the first wave's "leftovers" in addition to your priming sugar. Some types of sugars require more energy for the yeast to eat and if they run out of certain micronutrients, ability to generate enzymes to digest them, they'll just quit eating that type of sugar. At 10% ABV levels, that is likely to happen and the ABV itself could become a factor the "tired" yeast also have to cope with.

I'd recommend drinking that stuff up before it gets any worse. At a minimum, place them inside a plastic storage container just in case.

 

[xben]

This is exactly what I was thinking... poor attenuation at fermentation and now it is beeing refermented and gaining a bit of points. Next time I will brew my christmas beer on june to have enough time to naturally carbonate without adding fresh yeast.

 

[Kee]

I added a pack of fresh yeast along with the priming sugar at bottling. 1 month later, the beer is too much carbonated, resulting into gushing. I don't see any sign of infection, off flavors or lack of body. The head is huge and very long lasting because of this. I lose approx. 1/4 of the bottle in foam, but at this ABV (10%), the most of my friends and family is not able to drink a full bottle anyway!

I just hope I won't get bottle bombs in the next weeks or month!
To be continued...

I would put the remaining bottles in the frig if you have space, or some other cold place, just is case.

 

[BlkWater_brewer]

I have seen some bottling capsules that contain the sugar and a small amount of neutral yeast. Just drop them into the bottles and fill. Can't say I have tried it but in theory it makes sense. Think I saw them on the Northern Brewer page but not sure.

 

[xben]

After leaving the beer in the fridge for a week, I can easily poor the precious liquid without losing anything.. the foam (gush) starts 5 seconds after the bottle is opened, so I have enough time to poor into the glass. Using a large chalice glass gives me a 1-inch thick fine bubbles lace that lasts forever. What is weird is that the beer is not over-carbonated for the style.

The entire batch is now in the fridge and saved from explosion!

Happy holidays everyone!

 

[AlfA01]

I added a pack of fresh yeast along with the priming sugar at bottling. 1 month later, the beer is too much carbonated, resulting into gushing. I don't see any sign of infection, off flavors or lack of body. The head is huge and very long lasting because of this. I lose approx. 1/4 of the bottle in foam, but at this ABV (10%), the most of my friends and family is not able to drink a full bottle anyway!

I just hope I won't get bottle bombs in the next weeks or month!
To be continued...

Same problem on my IIPA, but didn't add extra yeast, just priming sugar. I've started to relieve some pressure on the bottles and they have gotten better, not worse I slightly lift the lids on the bottle to avoid bending the cap or to completely remove it. Just lift enough to allow some CO2 to escape. This will at least let you know how if they will explode, as after a couple of releases and a couple of days waiting, you should be able to tell if the carbonation build up has stabilized.

Good Luck!

Cheers,
AlfA